pbp Forum Project

[tdewitt274]

OK, let's try a little information gathering. This thread is seeing a good amount of traffic, I'd like to see what everyone has to say!

What do you NOT like about the pbp system that you're currently using?
What restrictions would you like to overcome?
What enhancements would you like to see?
Is there something that works, but it could work better?
What would you want to get rid of?
Are there items that could be improved?
Are there tools that would make things easier?
What is your least favorite feature/tool?
Is there a feature/tool that you would change the functionality of?

What DO you like about the pbp system you are currently using?
What is your favorite feature/tool?
What makes the current system so special?
What would make the system unbearable if a feature/tool was removed?

Just some things off the top of my head.

I know it's kind of shameless, but feel free to spread the word about this thread. The more input the better

 

[Thanee]

Yep, RPoL is completely self-coded, while GG uses the SMF forum software.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Camelot]

Dndorks.com has been adding to their rpg tools a bit recently; try checking there for inspiration!

I'll try to answer a few questions with some ideas, but just so you know I'm taking this solely from a D&D 4e point of view!

A die roller is a must, so that the player's can roll right on the forum, and the natural die roll and the modifier can be looked up. Using Invisible Castle is kind of a pain, although it's better than nothing.

Have a space for information that the players have gathered on their journey that the DM can add to and the players can bounce around ideas on. I think this will make it so that a DM won't ever have to repeat who an NPC is.

For characters, you're ideas seem to be right on target! If you want to aim for multiple systems, you have to make it versatile. You could take the easy route and just make it so that the players post their characters in a normal thread, or if you have the sources and ambition, you can make templates for the more common systems.

Just a few ideas! My own two cents. =) I would like to see this developed, be sure to keep us updated!

 

[tdewitt274]

Dndorks.com has been adding to their rpg tools a bit recently; try checking there for inspiration!

Will do! Thanks!

I'll try to answer a few questions with some ideas, but just so you know I'm taking this solely from a D&D 4e point of view!

Honestly, the systems aren't that different. Powers are kinda like Feats, Feats are kind like the enhancer (like that give +2 to a skill) Feats of 3.5.

A die roller is a must, so that the player's can roll right on the forum, and the natural die roll and the modifier can be looked up. Using Invisible Castle is kind of a pain, although it's better than nothing.

That's the primary feature

Have a space for information that the players have gathered on their journey that the DM can add to and the players can bounce around ideas on. I think this will make it so that a DM won't ever have to repeat who an NPC is.

I'm a big fan of Wikipedia. Using BBCode, I think that adding a link to a specific NPC page (or something like that) should be pretty easy.

I'm taking a lot of faith in BBCode. Each "Game" will have it's own BBCodes that the GM can set up, along with a "Generic List" (swear words, abbreviations, etc). Something like [Fzoul Chembryl] will link to a "Thread" on Fzoul that people can post about.

For characters, you're ideas seem to be right on target! If you want to aim for multiple systems, you have to make it versatile. You could take the easy route and just make it so that the players post their characters in a normal thread, or if you have the sources and ambition, you can make templates for the more common systems.

I received a lot of ideas for this type of layout from work. The form will have all the needed options in a table and everything will lay out pretty generically based on the system chosen by the GM.

My philosophy, "Work smarter, not harder."

Just a few ideas! My own two cents. =) I would like to see this developed, be sure to keep us updated!

And much appreciated!

 

[tdewitt274]

Calendar

I've been thinking about the temporal nature of the pbp Forum and decided that I'll have some kind of a Calendar System.

As previously noted, the posts will need to be temporal in nature. This is especially true if going into a "turn based initiative" and also when dealing with resting. The GM can also pass time by adding an "action" that advances the clock.

Here are my questions:

How accurate do you want the calendar to be?
The Gregorian calendar is a fickle creature. I won't get into the specifics, but it can be read here. If a true Leap Year is to be added for a revolution of an uneven amount of days in a year, then I'll need to create some kind of function that will count out time.
If every year is exactly 365 twenty four hour days, then this is not really a concern.

How will you use the calendar?
If the calendar is just used to mark the passing days, there shouldn't be an issue with "going forward." If the calendar is more complex, then how will bouncing back and forth in time be tracked?

How will special days be represented?
Special days like Thanksgiving in the US is on a variable day in a month (last Thursday). Will these be necessary or can they be glossed over?

Here's my original thoughts on the Calendar. This is just one idea that can be used. I'm open to other suggestions.

The way I see it, different calendars are used in different ways. For example, the Gregorian Calendar is different from the Faerunian Calendar (360 days with five "special days") which is also different from the Eberron Calendar (which uses an excessive amount of moons for different reasons).

As a result, I'm going to allow the Calendar to be dynamic. You'll start out with a blank canvas.

• Decide on how many months and give names.
• Add how many days per month (some can have 30, others 20 or even 50).
• Each day is broken to days of the week (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) and named.
• The Hours/Minutes/Seconds will determine the duration of a day.
• Additional days can be added to a month at an irregular interval (ex, February 29th every 4 years).
• Each Date can be given a name (ex, 1/1 = New Years Day).

I'm mostly interested in the basic framework at this time. This piece can be expanded and upgraded at later points without making the core framework invalid. But they are important questions to ask.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

 

[tdewitt274]

Subforums

I've been thinking about some of the replies with a regard to "subforums". While actual subforums are easy enough to do, I wanted to toss out the idea of "inclusion".

A little background. Each User has the option to start a game (in this case, "Star*Drive PL 6"). At that point, they create their own "Forum" within the overall framework. The User (now referenced as a GM) will have the ability to create any thread within the forum of their game. Within the Threads, users can create "Posts" where everyone can see all the action.

However, these posts are special. When creating a post, different submission boxes or submission methods are available. If you enter something into the "In Character" area, the submission shows in both the Thread and the subforum below it ("IC Only"). If entered in the OoC box, it will show up in the thread and "OOC Only" area. If an IC text is typed and an attack Action is created, the IC and Action will show in the Thread, and the IC will be "IC Only" and attack in "Actions".

Here's an example layout:

PBP Forums

• Uncle Jimbo's Eberron
• Star*Drive PL 6
  • Introduction
  • Character Creation
    • Zholin Zhou
      • Level 1
      • Level 2
      • Current
    • Jack "Cueball" Hardell
  • Episode 1: Black Starfall
    • IC Only
    • OOC Only
    • Actions
    • Personal
    • GM Area
    • Campaign Info
  • Episode 2: Red Starrise
• LotR: The Dawn of Man

With the appropriate table design, any depth can be added. Permissions can also be added so that only specific areas are viewable by certain users. As an example, lurkers can only view the IC Only area. Players cannot see the "GM Area" and the GM can see all areas except the "Personal" area of a player. Ideally, this can all be optional and not visible if the GM doesn't want it.

I'd like to hear your feedback on this. It's mostly brainstorming at this point. If it doesn't sound like something that would be used, it can be ignored. If the option is something that may be useful, it warrants review.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

 

[tdewitt274]

Combat Maps

Just wanted to post regarding Combat Maps in the game.

I'm planning on basing this on some existing code that I did some time ago. You can see an example here. This is a basic example, the concept that will be included in the pbp Forum will have database integration.

The concept behind the example is to represent the field of battle. As you can see, there's a map background, personal "icons" scaled to size for each combatant, an initiative map, a "Current Round" indicator, and a "Dead Pool" for fallen gladiators.

More complex features would be:

• Adding a "template" for movement that will show available areas to move. The user would click on a cell to map out the movement from cell to cell.
• Clickable icons that show available options to you (ex, attack, aid, talk, etc).
• "Fog of War" for illumination.

Of course, this concept requires a map be created. Although I have ideas for a different project, there are multiple options available. For example, an open source SVG image maker called Inkscape is a free utility that could function like a map maker. Create the map, export as BMP, JPG or PNG and you're ready to go!

I haven't nailed down anything specific for this feature, just going off old ideas. What kind of features would you like to see? What features would be useless to you?

Let me know what you think!

Enjoy

 

[tdewitt274]

Die Rolls

Reading this got me thinking about Dice Rolls.

While the pbp Forum will do the majority of die rolls, there is likely a need for outside of game die rolls.

Here is a die roller that I made some time ago. While it doesn't store the die rolls, it does have a bit of functionality.

• Total Results = shows results and a total
• Drop Lowest = Rolls the desired number, but drops the lowest (ex, 4d6, drop lowest)
• Wild Die Explode = From the Star Wars RPG, if the last die is a 6, it rolls until the die is no longer a 6.
• Hero System = Stun and Body Damage per the Hero System rules.

Designate the number of dice, add a modifier if needed, and click on the die that you want to use.

Of course, you'll want to store the die roll somehow. So, a user account would be created. Possibly some kind of description is included. A referral link can be sent by the GM for the players to roll their results (to store in the GM account and player account).

What about "edits"? Should these be allowed?
Should the player be able to see the result before submission?
How about "cheating" by revising the post?

There was references to Invisible Castle earlier. I've never used the service, but I have an idea of what it's about.
What is the major draw for Invisible Castle?
How could it be better?
What kind of dice options would make it more desireable?
Removing what feature would make it useless to you?

For the most part, the dice will be included with the player's actions. However, if there are so few sites out there like Invisible Castle, would it be more beneficial to have this functionality available to the public?

As always, comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[covaithe]

As far as I know, InvisibleCastle is the only site of its kind (although I'd love to be proven wrong; it does go down sometimes!), i.e. where you can roll dice and get a permalink to the result. It's also very important that it's searchable, so if you're a player in my game and you just spam rolls until you get a 20, I can catch you on it by searching for rolls under your name. I would sorely miss the notes field if it weren't there, too. Campaign and character name are nice, but I could get by without them in a pinch.

For an in-forum die roller, if players had the ability to edit the post afterwards... I can't see how that would work with die rolls. Obviously you don't want them editing the value of the raw die roll itself, but I could see a case being made for editing the modifiers, if it could be done safely. Can the player edit the post to add another die roll? Can they delete an old die roll that they belatedly realized was unneeded? How would the forum tell the difference between adding a new die roll and editing the modifiers on the old one?

One die rolling function that IC doesn't provide that I'd like is the ability to do attack and damage rolls for 4e area attacks, where you roll one attack roll, say 1d20+5, for each target of the attack, but everyone that gets hit takes the same damage. In IC, I either have to make 2 rolls, or do something like this, to attack 3 monsters: 1d20+5;1d20+5;1d20+5;2d6+4. It would be nice to write, say, 3x1d20+5;2d6+4. Or 3.times(1d20+5), if you want to get all ruby about it. Syntax doesn't matter terribly much.

Another thing that's kind of painful to do in IC is initiative rolls, where you have to type something like 1d20+13;1d20+16;1d20+12;1d20+15;1d20+15;1d20+13;1d20+14. I don't have any good ideas what to do about that, though.

 

[tdewitt274]

It's also very important that it's searchable, so if you're a player in my game and you just spam rolls until you get a 20, I can catch you on it by searching for rolls under your name.

So, if this was assigned to a GM/Game profile, the GM could look up any rolls for a given PC? The GM/Game Profile would be the "bucket", the rolls being the stones, and the PC being the "tosser". The PC would also be able to see what dice he threw, but only his/her rolls.

I would sorely miss the notes field if it weren't there, too. Campaign and character name are nice, but I could get by without them in a pinch.

What do you/they use the notes for? Is this for "Attack Roll" or "Saving Throw" or "Athletics Skill Check"? Or is there a larger purpose to the notes?

For an in-forum die roller, if players had the ability to edit the post afterwards... I can't see how that would work with die rolls. Obviously you don't want them editing the value of the raw die roll itself, but I could see a case being made for editing the modifiers, if it could be done safely. Can the player edit the post to add another die roll? Can they delete an old die roll that they belatedly realized was unneeded? How would the forum tell the difference between adding a new die roll and editing the modifiers on the old one?

I'm still working on the ideas behind the posts, so I can't say right out. However, the concept of associating die rolls with a post are on the Post ID. So, if you add any amount of die rolls, they'll show there.

I was thinking that editing a post will retain the old information while updating the new. Similar to how a Wiki works that you can "roll back" to a prior version. The GM would have the option of this. If they were to edit a post, "remove" the Attack Roll and replace it with a Skill Roll, wouldn't just the modifier be the affected piece? So, in the end, the Forum should look to see if that Die Type (d4, d20, d100, etc) has been rolled and "latch onto" that one.

Modifiers normally would calculated at the time of the roll, but does pose an interesting situation. Maybe allow the GM to modify the modifiers...

One die rolling function that IC doesn't provide that I'd like is the ability to do attack and damage rolls for 4e area attacks, where you roll one attack roll, say 1d20+5, for each target of the attack, but everyone that gets hit takes the same damage. In IC, I either have to make 2 rolls, or do something like this, to attack 3 monsters: 1d20+5;1d20+5;1d20+5;2d6+4. It would be nice to write, say, 3x1d20+5;2d6+4. Or 3.times(1d20+5), if you want to get all ruby about it. Syntax doesn't matter terribly much.

I've modified my Die Roller to compensate for multiple rolls. So, as in your example, you have Multiple Rolls, Multiple Dice, and a Modifier.

Another thing that's kind of painful to do in IC is initiative rolls, where you have to type something like 1d20+13;1d20+16;1d20+12;1d20+15;1d20+15;1d20+13;1d20+14. I don't have any good ideas what to do about that, though.

For Initiative, I envision an option where the GM clicks a button that creates the initiative ahead of the combat. This would reduce on the players having to post links. Also, the pbp Forum would have all the INI Modifiers available so it can do the actions on the fly.

Thanks for the feedback, it did clarify some things that I hadn't thought of.